Monsters Under the Bed
by glitters and gold
Summary: Even though the camps have come out in victory through the last two wars, Percy occasionally still finds himself with his back pressed up against the wall. Luckily, he has something waiting for him when he makes it home. Futurefic fluff.


**Note: **Because I have a sick and haunting feeling that this is not really going to happen. So I had to get it out before that evil man (also known as the creator of Percy Jackson and thus has all rights to do whatever he wants with him but that DOES NOT mean I have to be okay with it) squelches my dreams. So futuristic kiddie fluff for everyone.

And also I am home sick with a fever. Post happy. Have some pity, please, and just click the link.

Review if you've seen _Hunger Games _yet.

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><p>Percy fiddled with his keys, swearing under his breath as they slipped through his numb fingers. He snatched them up and unlocked the door with as much courtesy as he could manage, wincing as the heavy door slammed shut on its own and a dull resounding thump traveled through the pressing silence.<p>

He leaned against the solid wood; breathing in the air that reeked deliciously of _home._ It had been so long since he'd had a problem so widespread and tangled to deal with, he'd almost forgotten how nerve-wracking it felt to truly be unsure if you would wake up in the morning; the operative word being _almost,_ naturally. Monsters milled about in the background of his life still; occasionally a hellhound or two would pounce just before he climbed into his car, or his heart would skip a beat as a Laistrygonian materialized behind him, but nothing major. Understandably so, as a new generation of better equipped demigods had risen from the remnants left behind of the two wars the camps had only barely come out victorious over.

Percy was convinced they'd always be the group of heroes that had seen and conquered the most, except for possibly Hercules, which was uncanny because it had been Annabeth who had pointed out that their lives were nearly mirror images of each other, starting with the vipers in the crib and continuing on all the way to slaying giants at the gods' request. He could only hope that meant he skipped the whole going-insane-and-murdering-his-family thing (which yes, Juno had threatened after an argument that grew a little too heated for the goddesses' liking), because _no thank-you._ The point being, there were very few people who had faced armies of supernatural beings with unequaled power and come out alive, and his friends; comrades; allies; _family _currently held the universal record of twice. He felt he had a sort of... duty, to remind the overly-cocky and mischievous new half-bloods that this entire world was still intact because of the bravery and acts of the half-bloods back then. Annabeth called it egotistical. Percy called it fun.

Usually it just involved chuckling in the background and maybe hurling a helpful tidbit if he felt they deserved it, such as _I wouldn't cut the heads off if I were you,_ or, _that's Medusa you idiots, don't look at her. _That night he'd actually ended up the target, which in addition to being unusual was just plain _aggravating._ At least, it had been aggravating until him and Nico had managed to get themselves cornered, and then it just became heavy déjà vu and downright scary. He needed to find a way to teach those sorts of things to stay in his past.

"Annabeth?" Percy whisper-yelled questioningly. No reply. He hung up his coat and wandered into the room with the TV, which had been left on, rambling obnoxiously about the ingenuity of the Sistine Chapel or whatever. How Annabeth could sit through this stuff he would never know, but it was her absolute favorite channel and often rang through their home. Percy silenced the narrator's monologue with a swift and fatal click of the remote and kicked off his shoes as he ran a hand tiredly over his face. He was exhausted, but too wound up to sleep. Sprinting through city streets and killing three monsters in the span of five seconds will do that to you. He contemplated his predicament lightly before deciding to just go wake Annabeth up so he didn't have to be by himself for the next hour or so. She wouldn't be particularly pleasant, but it was a more appealing alternative to wandering the dark hallways until his eyelids felt heavy. She didn't have to work tomorrow anyway, and although Percy did, he figured an extra hour wouldn't do him all that much good anyway. Passing time and growing age had done nothing to improve their atypical sleeping habits.

He started to trudge off in the direction of their bedroom when he heard a crinkling noise behind him. He whirled around, half-expecting another skeleton, but instead was greeted with the sight of a dark-haired toddler curled up on the couch.

"Daddy," she yawned and rubbed her eyes; so much like her mother's.

"Rae," Percy smiled and gently scooped up her warm body. No doubt it was some ungodly hour of the morning, but he was happy to see her, even if it meant the adorable little she-devil would be making an appearance tomorrow. Annabeth would be home with the kids tomorrow, and if she hadn't waited up for him herself, she was just going to have to pay the price in the morning. "Hey, baby. What are you doing up?" He squinted at the clock: 3:47.

"I couldn't sleep," she told him, burying her head in his shoulder. He caught the gentle scent of her peppermint shampoo and reached up to stroke her mussed curls.

"Mommy went to bed?"

"She's in her office. She was waiting for you, but she couldn' sit still," Rae declared, proud to have remembered all the details, though her words slurred together.

Percy chuckled to himself. Annabeth would never come out and say she'd been worried, but he always found out one way or another. She isolated herself in her crammed office whenever she felt particularly helpless, which was so thickly insulated with scribbles and diagrams strewn around the room that it was nearly impossible to drag her out once she holed herself up in there.

"Why can't you sleep? Nightmares?" Percy asked, concerned. He shifted his arms to support her better, and she wrapped her chubby arms around his broad shoulders as best she could.

Sally had recently informed them that even as a baby, Percy had woken up screaming from the overly vivid dreams nearly every night. Rae seemed to be the only child who'd inherited the curse, and her's were even worse than Percy remembered his own being before he'd made it to camp.

"No," she admitted, her tiny voice muffled by the fabric of Percy's shirt. "it was real."

Even coming from delirious toddlers, those words were not usually a good sign. "What?"

"There was an evil dog in the house." Her sleepy voice took on a deadly serious tone, and Percy knew she couldn't be teasing.

"Did it look like Mrs. O'Leary?"

"Mm-hmm," Rae continued lazily. "_'_Cept it was scary. It was in my room."

Percy choked and lifted her head off his shoulder. "It was in _your_ room? When?"

Though monster attacks had gotten a lot less frequent for Percy and Annabeth recently, it wasn't completely unusual to hear of a monster sighting in the house. But a monster attacking their _kids_ was an entirely different matter.

"Don't know," Rae mumbled as eyelids fluttered slightly. "Mommy killed it. An' she told me s'okay, but I couldn' fall asleep anyway."

"Oh really," Percy sighed, walking over to the staircase by the front door. He didn't blame her. She was far too little to be exposed to that. Actually, from a paternal perspective, she would always be too little to be exposed to any kind of danger. He didn't want to scare her again or he'd never get her to sleep, but it was difficult to disguise his own fear.

"Mm-hmm. She tol' me not to tell you, but..." Rae yawned again.

"It's okay now, Rae," Percy reassured her. He ascended the steps gently. "You don't have to worry about it. Mommy and I would never let it hurt you."

"I know," Rae murmured as Percy stopped in the doorway of her room. Her head lolled to the side and nestled back in the crook of his neck. "I's'okay 'cause Daddy's home now."

He laughed lightly and kissed the top of her head, cradling her more tightly against his chest. He didn't want to put her down, but he seriously needed to go to bed himself, or they'd both be monsters in the morning.

Percy gently laid her almost limp body in the tousled bed sheets. "We'll talk about it more tomorrow, okay?" he whispered, so not to wake Ariadne up too. That was the last thing he needed at four in the morning. The two of them together was a recipe for disaster, in the purest sense. Rae bobbed her head up and down slightly. He turned to walk away.

"Daddy, wait!" Rae protested.

"Yeah, baby?"

She bit her lip and glanced up to the ceiling. "What if there's a monster under the bed?"

The simple irony of her question made his heart clench. At that moment, Percy would've paid anything to be able to tell her nothing like that could ever happen, like a mortal father could've. But in the world he lived it; the world he brought her into, there was never any guarantees. Percy's instincts were strong enough to know that the house was safe, at least for tonight, but Rae had clearly inherited the stubborn trait from both parents, so he obliged and checked under the bed. And under Ariadne's bed. And the closet.

"Rae," Percy interrupted her thought process of where else something could possibly be hiding. "I promise you, there's nothing in here."

The three-year-old pouted, pursing her lips and scrunching her eyebrows together indignantly. He laughed at her expression and ruffled her hair. He pulled the covers up to her chin, were she always insisted they be. Her tiny fists gripped the comforter and clutched the sheets around her.

"Goodnight, Rae," he whispered gently.

"_'_Night, Daddy," she replied lazily.

Percy just watched her for awhile, long after the rises and falls of her chest deepened and became more rhythmic. He bent down and kissed her forehead, then moved over to Ariadne next.

He hovered with his hand on the doorknob before closing the door, listening to the soft breathing of his daughters.

"I knew you'd freak out," Annabeth sighed, shaking her head as Percy closed the girls' door behind him.

"Well, you're right," he muttered, "but that doesn't mean you can't tell me."

"I know, I know," she surrendered, crossing her arms over her chest. She wore her favorite pair of disheveled sweats that she'd had since they were teenagers, leaning against the wall. "I was going to tuck them in, and it was waiting in the corner. I barely had enough time to grab the knife. No big deal, for me, but..." she didn't have to say it. They were both thinking it anyway.

Sensing his discomfort, Annabeth strode across the floor and slid her hand under his chin, making him look at her. "We knew this wouldn't be easy. This is what we wanted."

"I know, but I thought they'd at least have some training before—"

"I wasn't trained when monsters started attacking me," she pointed out. "And I was five, living with mortals, and weaponless. In a way, they're better off than any of us."

Percy studied her face. It was difficult to see her in the dimly lit hallway, but the light from their room down the hall shone just bright enough for him to see her eyes clearly.

This had been part of the reason they'd agreed they wouldn't have kids: they both knew the price of being a half-blood, and hadn't wanted raise a family after all the horrors they'd seen. They had only barely escaped with each other. Alex had been unintentional and a terrifying experience for the both of them. When he still had all limbs attached and properly functioning joints at age three, they made the cautious decision to have another. Needless to say they hadn't been counting on twins, and Percy thought it may have been to ambitious after all.

"We just have to be more careful, is all."

"And worry a hell of a lot more."

"It's not like that's anything new for you," she muttered, starting to walk down the hallway and tugging on his hand so he would follow."Speaking of worrying, where the hell _where_ you?" Annabeth turned on her heel to face him and placed her hands on her hips.

Percy almost opted for the simple answer, which would never fly well with Annabeth, but it was so much easier than explaining about the crazy newbies and the skeletons and how he and Nico had gotten caught up in it in the first place. It could wait.

"Tomorrow," he murmured, kissing the top of her head lightly. A smile tugged on her lips and she leaned into his strong and lean frame she'd always fit so perfectly into.

Percy found that he'd actually missed nights like this. Something about the lull of the sleeping sighs of the children and the lazy glow of the few lights that remained on caused a scene so entirely perfect it was easy to overlook the haphazard and abnormal state of the family living inside it. On occasion he yearned for that kind of normal; that kind of glassy perfection where you didn't have to be in a constant state of fear. But for some reason on the crazier, more twisted and wild nights he thought that this kind of life suited them all just fine.


End file.
